Professional Goals & Growth Plan for PS III

Name: Jing (Alisa) Wang School: Killarney School

Interns email address: jh.wang@uleth.ca
Practicum Dates: Jan 3rd, 2017 April 13th, 2017
Teacher Mentor: Jennifer Chow School Administrator: Christine McCrory
Faculty Mentor: Arlene Driscoll
A. Professional Goals
Goal #1: Integrate differentiation strategies daily teaching, including grouping the students according to their
learning needs, develop differentiated lesson plans, worksheets, and activities that benefits all students in the
classroom.
Rationale: I think this is important in all schools, especially in a Montessori school, since all class rooms are
combined with multi-grades. It is important to make sure that all tasks are differentiated to maximize the
learning of all students.
Goal #2: Improve ways of giving instruction in certain areas, including use clear, fluent, and grammatically
spoken and written language, use vocabulary appropriate to students age, background, and interests, and
provides clear directions, instructions and explanations.
Rationale: Because English is my second language, sometimes I am not able to organize my words in a
grammatically correct way. Also, I may not know if certain words are appropriate at the grade level that I am
teaching. I think that it is important as a teacher to try my best to improve these skills that I lack of.
Goal #3: Develop strong leadership skills, take charge of classroom activities, show confidence, poise,
composure, presence, as well as maintain class discipline at all times.
Rationale: I am a relatively shy person which I find hard sometimes to take on the leadership in a classroom.
I would like to try my best to improve my leadership skills throughout the practicum.

B. Strategies
Strategies for addressing Goal #1: Learn from my teacher mentor by observing, asking her questions, as well
as getting feedbacks, develop positive relationships to help know the students better, take into account
students prior knowledge and consider their learning needs, interests, backgrounds to come up with
different activities and assessments for students with different learning needs.
Strategies for addressing Goal #2: Learn from my teacher mentor by observing, asking her questions, as well
as getting feedbacks, look through and practice each lesson several times to be super familiar with each
lesson, and make sure that I simplify the words when teaching.
Strategies for addressing Goal #3: Learn from my teacher mentor by observing, asking her questions, as well
as getting feedbacks, talk to peers about their experiences, and ask them for suggestions, practice at home
and in the classroom, and research on strategies that will help me to become a good leader.

C. Indicators of Progress Towards Goals

Indicator of Progress for Goal #1: Worked with grade 1s as a smaller group to assist them which helped
them to understand better and to finish their work more efficiently.
Indicator of Progress for Goal#2: Practiced several times at home before teaching the lesson. The lesson
went smoother, and I was more confident when teaching.
Indicator of Progress for Goal#3: Observed my teacher mentor, I was able to learn many classroom
management strategies from her to improve my leadership skills.

D. Timeline for Completion

Goal #1: January April 2017
Goal #2: January April 2017
Goal #3: January April 2017
E. Professional Goals & Growth Plan Reflection
At the beginning of my practicum, I setted up three different goals for myself to work on throughout my
practicum. My first goal was to integrate differentiation strategies in daily teaching, including grouping the
students according to their learning needs, develop differentiated lesson plans, worksheets, and activities that
benefits all students in the classroom. To help achieve my goal, I begun with carefully observing the
different differentiation strategies my teacher mentor used. I made sure to record the different strategies and
finding ways to modify and apply it into my lessons. In all my lesson plans, I have inserted a differentiation
section to include all the possible differentiation strategies that may be applicable for that lesson. For each
lesson I taught, I tried my best to include as many ways to approach the question by using different learning
tools and manipulatives, as well as incorporating fun activities through the use of technology to help
students to gain a better understanding of the materials taught. For each worksheet I made, I found out that
including word banks for missing words can be extremely helpful to lower grade students. I also found out
that by including lots of visuals, and integrating art into other subjects can really draw their interest, and help
students become more focused in learning. Differentiation is important in all schools, especially in a
Montessori school, since all classrooms have multi-grade groupings. It is important to make sure that all
tasks are differentiated to maximize the learning of all students.

My second goal was to improve the way I provided instruction to the students, ensuring I used clear, fluent,
and grammatically spoken and written language; use of vocabulary appropriate to the students age,
background, and interests; provided clear directions, instructions, and explanations. I found this to be quite
challenging because English is my second language. Since I was uncertain if the words I was using were
appropriate for the grade level I was teaching, I carefully observed many lessons taught by my teacher
mentor; I asked her questions regarding her feedback; reviewed and practiced each lesson several times to be
familiar with each lesson; and used straight forward vocabulary when teaching. My ability to deliver clear
and concise instructions was aided by the time and effort I put in to improving my language skills. In
general, I believe its important to have differentiated instruction for every lesson. To best meet the learning
needs of all students in the classroom, I have developed a variety of instructional strategies including giving
direct instructions; whole class and small group instructions; questioning; sharing; discussions; step-by-step
instructions; hands-on activities; mini white board activities; chart paper activities; smart board activities;
math tools and manipulatives; many corresponding images along with the text provided; setting up book
stations and a variety of technology integrations. I found all of these strategies to be very helpful and
effective, especially the proper use of questioning.

My third goal was to improve my leadership role by developing positive relationships with my students.
With some research and help from my teacher mentor and peers, I continued to grow in confidence in my
classroom leadership and management. Some classroom management strategies I found to be very effective
included speaking only when students were quiet and ready; using hand signals and other non-verbal
communication; addressing behavior issues quickly and quietly; as well as having well-designed, engaging
lessons that were meaningful and relevant to their life and interests. Of course, none of these can work
effectively without having established relationships with the students. Therefore, it is essential to develop
strong and positive relationships with students by noticing and commenting on the students specific
approach to their learning and listening for students interests to motivate them; delivering personalized one-
on-one morning and afterschool greetings; and most importantly, letting them know I cared about them and
their successes in their learning. The longer I was there, the deeper the relationship. As the relationship
between the students and I got stronger, I found my classroom leadership and management strategies worked
more effectively. All three goals are still at working progress. These goals are not only my goals for this
practicum, but my goals throughout my entire teaching career because there is always room for more
improvements.